Positive feed device for tape dispenser



Oct, 7, 1969 s. DOMENY PosI'rIvE FEED DEVICE FOR TAPE DISPENSER Filed April 21, 1967 IN VENTOAJ .S'feuen m Domen 2 ,5

United States Patent 3,470,781 POSITIVE FEED DEVICE FOR TAPE DISPENSER Steven Domeny, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Crane Packing Company, Morton Grove, 11]., a corporation of Illinois Filed Apr. 21, 1967, Ser. No. 632,816 Int. Cl. B26d /10; 1326f 3/02 US. Cl. 83-436 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Summary of the invention This invention relates to small, hand-held dispensers for slick or slippery tape made of plastic material such as polytetrafluoroethylene. The invention is particularly adapted for use with tape dispensers equipped with a hinged cutting device such as the one disclosed in my prior United States Patent No. 3,050,853.

Tape made of thin unsintered polytetrafluoroe'thylene has been found to be very useful as a thread sealant for pipe-joints, threaded fasteners, gages and fittings. In my aforesaid patent is disclosed a dispenser for such tape which is supplied with a cutter for severing the desired piece of tape from the roll in the dispenser. This prior dispenser and cutter relies upon physical contact by the thumb of the user upon the tape to feed the tape out of the dispenser and through the cutter. Because of the inherent slipperiness of polytetrafluoroethylene, a thumb feed was not always successful. However, when the end of the tape extended past the cutter so that it could be grasped by the user, the user, the tape could be readily and quickly pulled through the cutter, which is a desirable function where relatively long pieces are to be cut off.

Thus the principal object of this invention is to provide a positive feed device for a tape dispenser, which device nevertheless, releases the tape for optional dispensing thereof by pulling the tape from the exterior of the dispenser.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a releasable positive feed device for a tape dispenser, which device is in the form of a separate unit or assembly frictionally held on the dispenser for ready application thereto or removal therefrom.

These and other objects of this invention will become apparent from the following detail description thereof when taken together with the accompanying drawings in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tape dispenser to which the feed device of this invention has been applied;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the dispenser and feed device of FIG 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevational view in section of the upper portion of the dispenser and feed device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary front elevational view in section of the dispenser on the scale of FIG. 3 and taken along line 44 thereof; and

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of a feed roller of the feed device showing the roller released from the tape.

Referring now to the drawings, the dispenser selected to illustrate this invention is shown at and comprises a rectangular box 11, having a removable cover 12 held thereon in a closed condition by a snap lock 13. Within ice said dispenser is a roll 14 of tape of slippery material such as polytetrafluoroethylene. For ease in determining when the roll is exhausted, the dispenser is made of a transparent plastic material. A slot 15 (FIG. 3) is formed in the top 16 of the box 11 through which the tape 17 is passed to the exterior of the box.

A cutter device is provided with box 11 to sever the tape that has been drawn out of the box. The cutter device is comprised of a flanged base stamping 18 which is sufficiently wide to embrace the upper end of box 11 and its cutter 12 and to be held frictionally thereon. The upturned end 19 on base stamping 18 has a V-notch formed in the upper edge thereof which functions as one blade of a scissors. The cooperating scissor blade is formed by the end 20 of a stamping 21 which is hinged at its opposite end 22 to base stamping 18. A finger spring 23, formed in base stamping 18 (FIG. 3), urges the scissor blades 19 and 20 apart, and a pair of bent-over tabs, 24, 25, disposed one on either side of blade 19, act as a stop for blade 20.

Base stamping 18 has an opening 26 communicating with slot 15 in box 11, and hinged stamping 21 has a pair of transverse slots 27, 28 disposed one at each end of a depressed area 29 formed in hinged stamping 21. Tape 17 is threaded through slot 27 and then along depressed area 29 to and through slot 28, after which it passes between scissor blades 19 and 20 to the exterior of the device.

The structure, substantially as described thus far, is disclosed in my aforesaid prior patent. In such structure tape is advanced toward the scissor blades 19 and 20 by having the user contact the tape with his thumb and then push the tape forward along the depressed area 19. Because of the slippery nature of polytetrafluoroethylene, it is at times diflicult to obtain suflicient friction grip on the tape to develop the forward force needed to advance the tape through the scissors. If some of the tape extends outwardly beyond the scissors, the extending end can be grasped and pulled out to the required length, which provides a fast and simple method of extracting tape from the dispenser. It is first necessary, however, to advance enough tape frictionally through the scissors to provide a piece that can be reached externally of the blade, and if this cannot be accomplished at the depressed area, considerable inconvenience results.

According to this invention, an automatically releasable positive gripping means is provided for tape 17 in the form of a clamp-on attachment, shown generally in FIG. 2 at 30. Said attachment is comprised of a base stamping 31 having downwardly bent flanges 32, 33 which frictionally embrace the sides of stamping 21, so as to be retained thereon. A pair of rearwardly extending offset tabs 34, 35 pass into slot 27 and serve to locate attachment 30 on stamping 21. Resilient friction latches for locking attachment 30 to stamping 21 are provided at the ends of downwardly extending tabs 36, 37 on the forward ends of flanges 32, 33 which engage the bottom edges of the side flanges 38, 39 of stamping 21 in the manner shown in FIG. 1.

The gripping means itself is a roller 40 (FIG. 4) made of hard material and having a central knurled region 41 on its cylindrical outer surface which is raised or of slightly larger diameter than the remainder of the roller. Said roller 40 has an axial opening 42 therethrough into which extend inwardly turned circular flanges 43, 44 on upwardly struck spaced tabs 45, 46 on stamping 31. The diameter of opening 42 is appreciably larger than the outside diameter of the circular flanges 43, 44, so that although the latter serve as supports for roller 40 about which is can rotate, the roller can move freely a short distance transversely of its axis. Roller 40 is thus loosely mounted on circular flanges 43, 44.

Tabs 45, 46 extend over an opening 47 (FIG. 2) in stamping 31 which, when said stamping 31 is mounted on pivoted stamping 21, is directly over depressed area 29 along which tape 17 passes. Thus roller 40, and particularly knurled region 41 thereof, is directly over tape 17, and when the roller is pressed downwardly by the users thumb, the knurled region is brought into contact with tape 17. Rotation of roller 40 in a clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 4, by the users thumb therefore, causes the tape to be advanced toward and through the cutter where the free end of the tape may be grasped and the tape then pulled through the cutter, if desired. Release of roller 40 renders it loose and it then interposes no resistance to the movement of the tape.

The roller 40 and its mounting are readily removed when it is desired to thread a tape initially through opening 27 over depressed area 29 and through opening 28. In this event, the base stamping 31 is simply raised until the latching tabs 36, 37 are released from the side flanges 38, 39, and then pulled forwardly to withdraw tabs 34, 35 from opening 27.

The single-piece construction of base 30 and its attaching and roller-supporting tabs results in a very inexpensive stamping which may be readily attached to a dispenser or omitted therefrom where tape of a more frictional character is to be dispensed. The roller 40 can be readily made of brass as a screw machine part, and in view of the softness of the tape, it will last indefinitely.

I claim:

1. A dispenser for tape comprising a container for the tape having an opening through which the tape is passed, a cover for the opening having an opening therein aligned with the opening in the container, means for securing the cover to the container, a movable shear blade hinged to the cover, and a stationary shear blade on the cover cooperating with the movable shear blade to sever a length of tape from said container, said movable shear blade having slots therein through which the tape is threaded to expose the tape, characterized in that means are provided on the movable shear blade over the exposed tape to engage the tape and feed said tape toward the stationary shear blade, said tape feed means comprising a roller adapted to contact the tape, means loosely rotatably supporting the roller on said feed means, and

means for removably mounting the tape engaging and feeding means on said shear blade.

2. A dispenser as described in claim 1, characterized further in that said roller supporting means comprises a base, and means on the sides of the base engaging the sides of said movable shear blade to hold said base on said movable shear blade, said base being provided with a tab along an edge removed from said shear blade and extending into a slot in the movable shear blade and under said movable shear blade to removably lock said base to said movable shear blade.

3. A dispenser as described in claim 1, said loosely rotatably supporting means comprising a base, a pair of spaced upwardly extending tabs, said base having an opening therein between said tabs, opposed inturned protuberances on said tabs, said roller having an opening adjacent the protuberances to receive said protuberances and be supported thereon, said protuberances fitting loosely in said opening to allow said roller to move transversely of its axis toward and away from the tape through said opening between said tabs.

4. A dispenser as described in claim 3, said opposed inturned protuberances on said tabs comprising circular flanges formed integrally with said tabs.

5. A dispenser as described in claim 1, characterized further in that said roller supporting means comprises a base, and resilient holding means on the sides of the base engaging sides of the said removable shear blade to hold said base on said movable shear blade, said base being provided with a pair of spaced offset tables extending from the rear edge of the base into the slot in the movable shear blade to interlock the rear portion of the base with the movable shear slade.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,787,881 1/1931 Uttz 225-23 1,787,882 1/1931 Uttz 22523 3,035,345 5/1962 Barnard 83--649X 3,050,853 8/1962 Domeny 83611 WILLIAM S. LAWSON, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

P0405) v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE m CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3470781 Dated October 7, 19 Inventor(s) S DOMENY It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Col. 1, line 38, "the user" (second occurrence) should be deleted; V

col. 1, line 53, "detail" should be --detailed;

col. 2, line 11, "The" should be --An-; M

col. 2 line 69, "is" should be it-; -L-

CLAIM 5, col. 4, line 30, "tables" should be -tabs-.

SIGNED AND SEALED APR281970 (SEAL) Attest:

Edward M. F letchez', Ir.

lttcs in Officer WILLIAM E. 'SCiHUYLER, JR.

Commissioner of Patents 

